Asynchronous blueberry sorter

A high speed asynchronous fruit sorting apparatus for sorting fruits into a plurality of maturity grades comprising:

• conveyor means having laterally spaced apart and generally longitudinally aligned side retaining means that are elevated so as to define at least one longitudinally extending input channel for receiving fruit products therein such that the respective fruit products received within said defined input channel are generally aligned and maintained one behind the other in random spaced apart relationship;
• a maturity sensing and sorting zone disposed adjacent said conveyor means and including a source of illumination disposed below said conveyor means for transmitting light through the passing articles of fruit;
• optical maturity sensing means situated at said sensing and sorting zone and aligned with said input channel for sensing light transmittance through said fruit and effectively determining the maturity of respective articles of fruit passing within said input channel, said maturity sensing means including fiber optic means for capturing light rays diffused by said articles of fruit and means operatively associated with said fiber optic means for generating differential optical density signals based on light transmittance of the respective articles of fruit at two selected wavelengths, whereby the magnitude of the produced differential optical density signal is related to maturity;
• an air ejection apparatus having at least two air jet nozzles disposed about each maturity sensing and sorting zone and disposed directly adjacent said optical maturity sensing means for blowing and transferring selected articles of fruit from said input channel over said side retaining means immediately after maturity determination and in response to the maturity of respective articles of fruit being determined such that maturity determination and grading occurs in rapid time sequence about the same area of said conveyor means, said air ejection apparatus including a control circuit for actuating selected individual air jet nozzles and wherein said air jet nozzles are directed toward said input channel and operative upon actuation to blow in an unassisted fashion certain articles of fruit upwardly from a sitting position within said input channel over the side retaining means forming a part thereof;
• a maturity discriminator circuit operatively connected to the control circuit of said air ejection apparatus and adapted to receive said differential optical density signals and to effectively evaluate the signals to determine the maturity state of respective articles of fruit;
• and an asynchronous position detector apparatus disposed about each sorting zone for detecting oncoming articles of fruit and including an actuating control circuit responsive to the detection of oncoming articles of fruit for effectively actuating the maturity discriminator circuit so as to evaluate a certain differential optical density signal representative of a selected article of fruit at an appropriate time in order that the same may effectively actuate the control circuit of said air ejection apparatus such that either of said air jet nozzles may be actuated so as to blow the selected article of fruit from said input channel upwardly and over said side retaining means.

A sorting apparatus for sorting longitudinally aligned products such as fruits or articles in accordance to predetermined grades, comprising:

• a laterally extending product supporting conveyor means including laterally extending product support elements and operatively associated laterally spaced and longitudinally extending side retaining means that are elevated so as to define at least one longitudinally extending input channel for receiving products therein such that the respective products received in that defined input channel are maintained one behind the other and are at least partially supported by said laterally extending product support elements that extend transversely between said side retaining means;
• a sensing and sorting zone disposed adjacent said conveyor means and including a source of illumination spaced relative to said conveyor means for illuminating products conveyed within said input channel, and optical sensing means disposed adjacent said conveyor means and spaced with respect to said source of illumination for sensing the resultant light of said products and effectively determining the grade of respective products being conveyed within said input channel;
• said optical sensing means including means for sensing generally through the lateral product support elements that extend across said input channel between said illumination source and said optical sensing means in such a manner that the lateral support elements actually pass through the resulting optical light path existing between said illumination source and said optical sensing means;
• and grading means operatively associated with said sensing means and responsive thereto for effectively grading the products by causing the respective products to be transferred from said input channel to an appropriate area where the respective grades are collected.